*I'm ever grateful that I grew up in Louisiana where food is a religion stronger than you find in church.

*I've had chefs that behaved the way Gordon does on his shows. Not at me, of course, because I've always been the teacher's pet-type (though I did get cussed out for calling him Sir that first time) and more than capable.

*We are as one on the Zin--even to the point of calling white zin kool-aid; I did have to explain to some dinner guests, though, that there is such a thing as red zin, it is good, and how red and white wines can be made from the same grapes!

okay despite the fact that you gave me a shout out, I HATE YOU!! not really, I'm just amazingly jealous. My heart hurts right now....with envy.

The headcheese thing..ew. But, it sort of reminds me of the time I was living in Germany and I loved this meat spread thing that I ate by the gallonful. When I asked what it was, my hosts said, "Pork", and I let that stand.

Literally 10 years later I was reading a random article in the Smithsonian about Butchers in Germany. Guess what I had been devouring? RAW pork. It's delicious, really. But you can only get it from a reputable butcher in Germany, or you might die.

Gordon is too yelling on Hell's Kitchen. I like him better on Kitchen Nightmares, where he seems to show a glimpse of his SOUL.

Joann - if I had your cell phone number, I would have called the second Ed Rooney's face showed up in my Blogger Dash. But it kept getting better! The Chicago stories, Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay...AAAAHHHHHHHH!!

This was a post that slapped a shit-eatin' grin on my face and made my heart race in excitement. :)

I'm so glad you had a wonderful dinner and that your writing is back on track!

Also? I do enjoy watching other people cook so much better than actually doing it myself! Mostly it's because I hate cleaning up. Or cleaning up before i cook, and then having to also clean up after. It's exhausting.

Oh, my mother, who graduated with a home ec degree from Mississippi University for Women, must have been sleeping when the spice class happened. I was forever challenging her to come up with something I would eat. Something with FLAVOR. Argh. Wouldn't touch white bread and american cheese. I love to cook. I do it every day.

And I cringed when Amanda made chicken in sherry for CHILDREN! Gale's comment back to her was priceless.

Very envious of your culinary adventure. I once got a kiss on the lips from an Italian chef in NY when I ordered the liver. He came flying out of the kitchen to smooch me as the order hit the window.

When I read the title of this post I wondered what this was all going to be about and once again I have discovered a major difference in the meaning of certain words between English English and American English. In England what you refer to as Head Cheese is called Brawn. As this is a family blog I cannot I fear tell you what the term Head Cheese is actually used to refer to but you can look it up :-)

Oh Joann, one day we shall meet up and have a fun filled day of debauchery such as drinking wine, and eating head cheese, and we can even play some Bono of course alternating it with some Dave Matthews. It would be so fun.

Let me share a story with you about fish and pork heads, for our wedding we roasted a giant pig in the middle of a forest. My husband proceeded to eat the eye of the pig, I refused to kiss him the rest of the night :) He has also ate a many a fish eye and has forced me to eat head cheese, which I do love.

So when will this sinfully delicously bonding weekend take place between you and I? lol

Wisconsin? Really? Fries with an egg. Kind of like their cheese soup (a bowl of melted cheese with popcorn on the top.) But Dave must have been born somewhere else for he knows his stuff. And you can't beat Chicago for food. Any and all kinds of food. Have you ever tried to get a pizza in any other state? What a joke. Gotta go now, this blog has made me hungry I am chewing on the mouse pad.

Okay, that's the prettiest bathroom I've ever seen. Thank you for that detail. And the frites with egg sound so yummy. There's a place in Atlanta that makes a grilled cheese sandwich topped with a fried egg. It's heaven. So I can only imagine what those fries are like - kind of an American version of France's omelette and frites, I guess.

This post was a classic... I laughed so hard about the Irish eating and the iceberg lettuce.. my brother in law is Irish and the first time he ate salad at our house he spent 15 minutes looking at our mesculine lettuce...lol... .. ps i love head cheese too... hugs

My how you've grown girl. See, I grew up not even knowing what ranch dressing was like until I got married. The folks always had us on light or fat free everything and bland is an understatement. So happy that your eyes have been opened to fine cuisines. I'm still working on it, as my kids seem to have a more versatile palette than myself.

When I was in college, the Taco Bell in Auburn took checks but they ALSO charged 20 cents more per taco than stores other places. I just thought I'd share. That was when tacos were 59 cents so at school they were 79 cents and now they're 99 cents? I wonder if they're $1.19 in Auburn now?

I grew up in the Irish family, too, and will never eat a tuna noodle casserole again. When I was a teen my mother worked in a French restaurant and was immediately smitten with garlic and life changed drastically. Wherever we travel we go for a mega splurge dinner and I'll try something offbeat like head cheese. Last summer we went to Del Posto in NYC and had the tasting menu. Nothing more incredible than the kitchen sending out what they think it their best stuff and then inhaling it!

Yee Gads - the nicer sounding the name "Sweetbreads" & "Head Cheese" usually is cover for something unappetizing that they are hiding. I had dinner with some friends and their son LOVED to eat fish eyes. He would pop in one of those vacant steamed balls and a second later he'd spit out a little black BB from the center of the eye? Another time I had 'fish cheeks' and they were delicious, but I was a little disappointed when I found out they came from the fish's face - I had always wanted to see what fish had been sitting on in their underwater dens while waiting to be caught. W.C.C.

Would you be surprised to learn that the whole soundtrack to Sound of Music is on my iPod? I didn't think so.

My grandfather loved head cheese. He was always trying to get me to try it. I just couldn't. Even if I were to like it I certainly become known as that redhead who likes head cheese. Next time I am in Chicago I will give it a try, I promise.

Coming over from The Members' Lounge to see who else is loved by Meg.... I'm so happy she sent me your way.

I'm not big on liver (unless it's chopped and spread on matzoh and I'm surrounded by my extended family)but I do love tongue. My mom made it for me one night, but she didn't slice it in the kitchen. Seeing that whole thing on the table robbed us all of our appetites.... and there were sweetbreads for appetizers.... WHAT was she thinking??

Lucky you! I'm a pescetarian who eats pork. Only pork. I don't crave red meat or poultry, but I cannot resist pork! I've not tried head cheese, but will surely order it if I find myself at the Publican!